The African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa has recorded its worst ever performance and still managed to hold on to power. Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s reformist president, though elected for a second term, the margins of victory was razor thin, which would force the party to re-think its policy framework, particularly economic and political agenda. The ANC was ruling the country since 1994, when the democratic process was initiated ending the apartheid White Rule. Mr. Ramaphosa now is in a stronger position to fend off party rivals. Had the ANC’s share of votes was less then 50%, there could have been a serious demand from the party itself for a change of leadership. Significantly, ANC polled more votes than it did in 2016’s local elections. In that keenly fought election, ANC lost control of the commercial capital Johannesburg, The fact that in the national election, ANC managed to get more votes than in the local election is something Mr. Ramaphosa can boast of. The ANC appears to have lost votes among black voters to both the pro-market Democratic Alliance (DA) and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) led by Julius Malema. The latter is known for its radical ideas like the forced seizure of white-owned farms. The DA is likely to have 22 percent vote share and the rest going to the EFF.
The second term of the Cyril Ramaphosa is not going to be a cakewalk. He will have both political and economic challenges to face. Drop in the vote share of ANC may give an opportunity to the dissidents within the party to take on him. According to reports, there are many in ANC, who are ardent supporters of past president Jacob Zuma, who may militate against him since his vote share is markedly below that of Zuma’s, as the trend indicates. Secondly, the president may have to pursue an aggressive reform process, particularly to set right the loss-making public sector undertakings, which is a huge drain on the economy. The recent decision of the government to unbundle one of the state power utilities –ESKOM- has met with severe resistance from the workers’ unions, despite the government’s assurance that no jobs would be lost in the process. To carry out the difficult disinvestment process, the government should have a strong political will. Should Ramaphosa demonstrate the political dexterity is the trillion dollar question being posed by many?
